Also add links for food and treats
If you have chickens, you need a chicken journal. I’m a firm believer that you should get a central place to keep all of your flock-related data, expenses, and observations. So I’m here to advocate for chicken journals everywhere, and how to set one up! Hey I’ll even include a free PDF Table of Contents and a video demo!
I might have affiliate links in this article. There’s no extra cost to you but it gives a small percentage to my little family. So thanks!
What Is a Chicken Journal, Anyway?
Not to be confused with a chicken diary (can you imagine “Dear Diary, Today my favorite chicken pooped on me and it was glorious!”), a chicken journal is going to be a one-stop shop for all things chicken. You can have various sections for different types of information, include dates and amounts, and even add photos and receipts!
Why Would I Want or Need a Chicken Journal?
Like I mention in my video, there are a lot of reasons you’d need a chicken journal, and I can’t think of one regret (except the time that it takes to set it up!) so let’s count the ways…
- Keep track of expenses and profits
- Have each chicken’s health and specifics all in one place
- Analyze patterns with brands of food, treats, etc.
- Organized system for documenting vaccinations, medications, injuries, illnesses, deaths
- All necessary information in case of emergency (veterinary)
- All information in one place for chicken sitter when you go out of town
- Look back on why something happened
- Celebrate milestones
- Plan when chickens will need certain things in the future (molt, meds, etc.)
- Put all this stuff down on paper and get it out of your head!
I’m sure those aren’t the only reasons, but that’s all my feeble mind can think of right now.
And hey, if you’re a data fiend like I am and you love learning about how and why things happen (brighter egg yolks, stronger shells, happier birds, what worked best for getting rid of poultry lice, the examples go on and on), you can’t learn why something happened unless you have all the variables. So put all things chicken in the same place – it’s your backyard chicken one-stop shop!
See? Chicken journal. Bam.
How Do I Make a Chicken Journal?
You can either go digital or old-school paper. I personally don’t want all of this on a file on my phone, because it would be so much information to scroll through in one long list. But you do whatever works for you. You want it to be convenient and something you will access and add to on a regular basis.
You could also consider buying a pre-made chicken journal that’s been printed and published, or download an ebook that you can then print on whatever type of paper you want. I’ve also thought about printing a chicken journal out but putting in sheet protectors and a binder, so that it would be easy to add more pages in later! See? Lots of options!
I did purchase this printed chicken journal by Kerrie Hubbard if you’d like to see it. (I don’t work with her but this is an affiliate link for me.) It’s not perfect by any means but it’s a start!
And hey, if you like the free Table of Contents download, let me know in the comments if you’d like me to make my own chicken journal for download/purchase! It’s an idea…
What Should I Put In My Chicken Journal?
Some of this will be dependent on whether or not you have roosters, if you order eggs or chicks or just buy full grown chickens; it will depend on if you vaccinate and/or medicate your flock; and if you’re letting your hens hatch their own eggs. And of course I’m giving you a free PDF download at the end of the article that has my complete Table of Contents. But here are some quick ideas of what to put and how to organize it!
And of course you may not know all of this information but just fill out what you can. Each little thing helps!
First I would have all the information you can have of each chicken:
- Name
- Breed
- Colors/Markings
- Band Color
- Hatch Date and Location
- Photo
You might want to also think of a way to add more chickens/pages later, which is why I suggest leaving some blank space at the end of each section, or making your chicken journal into a binder so that you can add more paper at any time.
I would then have a list of all of the chicken supplies you use on a regular basis. You can list this in your chicken journal by the date you started it, or what type of material. I tend to like categories by what the item is, so I would set it up something like this:
Coop Materials
- Coop name/brand and date built
- Coop water sealant used, date used
- Bedding
- PDZ or other material
Food and Treats
- Layer feed used
- Water supplements like apple cider vinegar, Rooster Booster vitamins, etc.
- Treats and snacks like Flock Block, mealworms, Fly Grubs, etc.
I would also include where you bought it, the brand, how often you need to buy it, etc. That can help with budgeting and it’s good to know brands in case of a product recall.
Next you can include sections on topics like I mentioned at the beginning of the article. The Table of Contents is in more detail so be sure to download that, but I would include things such as:
- Medical: Illnesses, Injuries, Vaccines, Medications
- Egg Laying: Who lays what color egg, when they started laying
- Egg/meat sales
- Branding/egg stamp design
- New treats/foods given
- Landscaping and garden ideas for in the chicken run
- Flock photos
- Emergency contact information in case someone ever “chicken sits”
- Breed observations – who is more friendly, a better egg layer, etc.
Was that helpful in giving you some intro ideas into how to start a chicken journal (and why you’d want one)? Finally, here’s the free PDF download! And then check out the YouTube version of this article below!
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